Every been tempted to cutesy up your powder room by replacing all your bathroom accessories with a matching set featuring, oh, a fancy hat and feathered pumps?

Or flowers or little pink poodles? When I moved into my house, the sickly yellow bathroom walls were painted with badly-stenciled ivy, and the combo was supposed to match the white and lilac tiles (including accent tiles with sad little groupings of flowers). The only reason I can think of for stenciling in ivy was to try to make the bathroom a little more cute.

We’ve done what we can to tone down the cute by painting the walls white and pairing the purple with a soft green, keeping our bathroom accessories subdued, and avoiding signs that advertising things like “We aim to please. You aim, too, please.” Seriously, what is up with those?

Looking to refresh your bathroom or hate the bathroom you inherited when you bought your house? You’re better off skipping the cutesy accessories that are going to grate on your nerves in six months or a year and saving your pennies and springing for a gallon of paint, some new towels, and a pretty mirror. Maybe a pedestal sink if you’re otherwise set where bathroom storage is concerned.

Trust me — think long-term when you’re updating a room and you’ll save money in the long run.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 5:23 am by Christa Terry and is filed under Decorating, The bathroom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.